Container Storage in Melbourne's South East
If you need Storage in Melbourne, give us a call
July 2020
Buying a new house is a wonderful milestone but it can also be a logistical nightmare, particularly if moving out and moving in dates don’t line up. Despite your best efforts to have your move out and move in days line up, sometimes decisions around the dates can be out of your hands. You may end up with a lengthy gap in between when you need to move out of your old house and the earliest you can move in to your new one. With a house load of furniture to store, you’ve found yourself in a bit of a pickle.
Or perhaps you’ve downsized to an apartment as the kids have gone off to university, or you wanted something lower maintenance. Your new place can’t fit all the furniture your previous home could, but you can’t bear the thought of having to part with some of your furniture.
Or maybe you’ve got an amazing job offer so you’re headed off overseas for a couple of years. You need to pack up your house but you do plan on returning to Australia eventually, and don’t want to have to deal with selling and sorting your furniture before you go, or having to buy new furniture when you return.
Three different situations, all with the same solution! Container storage in Melbourne’s South East. Placing your furniture in short or long-term container storage is a great option for people who find themselves with too many belongings and nowhere to store them.
Now you’ve found your solution, how do you go about choosing the right storage facility for you? There are many storage facilities in Dandenong, so it can be difficult to know which facility to go with.
Here are several questions to ask:
1. What Are You Storing?
You may need a certain type of storage facility depending on what you’re storing. If you are storing antiques or heirlooms, vehicles or boats, you’ll need a storage facility that caters to those specific items. Otherwise you have end up storing a vehicle in unit that is a nightmare to drive your car into, or a unit that puts your valuables at risk. You may even need a climate controlled unit to protect your items, in which case a standard storage unit will not suffice. Know what you need to store, and what environments they may need to preserve their current state or value.
2. How Clean is The Facility?
You can expect your storage facility to be clean and clear of any rubbish. The cleanliness of the storage facility’s reception area should be a good indication of what you can expect of the rest of the facility, but don’t assume anything. Ask to see the storage units yourself to ensure they are kept clean. Clean floors and bathrooms can also indicate they clean the place regularly.
3. Do They Have Security?
You are storing your valuables here as you want them to be safe, so you should check what security provisions they have in place. Security cameras should be installed, with adequate lighting around the facility. Computerised access is also an ideal feature, so you know it is only staff and customers that are able to enter the facility. Some facilities may even have security guards at certain hours to ensure the units are well protected. Also ask questions about how your particular unit will be kept secure – by padlock and key, or also by computerised access?
4. What Pest Control Measures Are in Place?
You don’t want your belongings to get damaged in storage by pests who have burrowed, scratched or chewed up all your stuff. Ask your prospective storage facility what pest control measures they have in place to keep your belongings safe. They should at least have a monthly visit from a pest control specialist to address any current or future concerns for the facility. If they don’t have any measures in place, you cannot be sure your belongings will be in the same condition as when you first moved them into storage.
5. What Size Unit Do You Need?
Depending on what you need to store, you may need to seek out an extra-large storage unit to house your belongings. Vehicles and boats not only require a bit of extra space compared to a few items of furniture, but they also need more surrounding room to enable you to actually drive the car or boat into the unit for safe keeping.
6. How Accessible Is Your Unit?
This not only refers to the location, but the actual ability to load furniture into your unit. Firstly, if you are going to access your unit semi-regularly, it pays for it to be located in reasonably close vicinity to where you live. For example, if you take the boat or caravan out every summer, but need to store it over winter, you don’t want to have to drive hours to pick it up. Secondly, accessing your actual unit once you are at the facility is important. If there are narrow corridors between units, you may find larger furniture difficult to navigate and move into your unit. Again, ask to inspect the facility and visit a typical unit to get a feel for how accessible it will be.
John Ryan Removals offer a full moving service, from packing and unpacking, residential relocation and commercial relocation, insurance, pet and vehicle relocation, and of course short and long-term storage solutions. And unlike other storage facilities, we can help you store your caravans and trucks. Talk to the experts in all things moving and storage.